Smell the roses...

Here is my project for the "Cherry Blossom Challenge" on SVGCuts.com's forum.

I LOVE everything cherry blossom, I have fond memories of the huge cherry tree that was in my garden when I was a child... So when the challenge got posted my creative wheel started turning right away... the problem is, my mind was going in all kind of (very) different directions at the same time, and I couldn't decide on one option!...

It quickly became clear I wanted something a little different, so I thought this paper would work well with big colorful blooms. Now if you know me, you know that black & white isn't really a combo I use a lot in papercrafting. I find it too cold and strict. I tried to soften it up here by using a lot of patterns that ressemble old french wallpaper.

I made a little sheet music with stamps, and used the page of an old novel because I like text background a lot... (It cracked me up that the title was "Late Bloomer" so I just had to use it! ;-))

I tried using novel pages in my cricut to cut SVG's but it didn't go well at all! The paper got torn, even on a lower speed... :-(

I made my 3D blooms using the Sakura flower from the cherry blossom collection. I am so glad Mary included this simple flower in the collection as I really really love the little indentation on the end of the petal... It's my favorite one. :-)  They remind me of peonies this way, and peonies are my favorite flowers (with lilac blooms and cherry blossoms... ;-)) It's hard to see in the picture but I also cut the foliage twice and added leaves on pop-dots here and there to give it more dimension.

I finished it off with a little tag with a sentiment, and little pearls on the opposite corner, and hung it on the wall next to my crafting desk. Initially it was going to be a card, but as I was adding things on it it got bigger (it's 6X6), and the blooms are so full that they would be an issue to mail, so I glued it on a cereal box chipboard and made a little hanging sign instead... :-)

I love the end result and I had fun playing out of my "color comfort zone"... ;-)

ETA: My entry was 3rd in the challenge! :-D